Midi Quest For iOS Lets You Manage 600+ MIDI Devices

Sound Quest has released MidiQuesti, an iPad version of its MIDI Quest editor/librarian.

Midi Quest supports over 630 of the most popular MIDI instruments and devices, from over 50 different manufacturers, including Korg, Roland, Yamaha, Kurzweil, Alesis, Waldorf, Kawai, Akai and E-Mu. It lets you store, organize, and edit patches, banks and more.

Midi Quest “talks” to each MIDI device individually, so it can simultaneously send SysEx to as many as 250 different instruments and still edit another instrument – all at the same time. 

Midi Quest natively reads and writes industry standard .syx and .mid files. Midi Quest for iPad imports Set, Collection, individual Patch, and individual Bank files from Mac and Windows versions of Midi Quest, so existing SysEx can easily be stored and edited on an iPad.

Pricing and Availability

MidiQuesti is available now as a free download. Support for individual devices, though, is added via In-App purchases. A list of supported devices, along with info on In-App pricing, is available on the Sound Quest site.

If you’ve used MidiQuesti, leave a comment and share your thoughts on it!

51 thoughts on “Midi Quest For iOS Lets You Manage 600+ MIDI Devices”

  2. This is fantastic news. Having device compatibility as IAPs is reasonable. I wonder what functions it will perform with none (i.e. out of the box).

      1. I installed it on my iPad 4 (32bit) running 10.3.3.

        The list of devices is extensive. The $ icon was greyed out, so I couldn’t see IAP prices. I added a K2500R device, and immediately got an “Insufficient Memory” message that the editor requires 2 GB of RAM (and I only have 987MB of RAM).

        That might mean that some of the device editors require less memory (?)– not sure. I didn’t have any other apps running, and it didn’t seem to matter, as I tried opening another app in the background and Quest still reported my RAM as 987MB.

        I didn’t get far with it.

        It’s weird that it would require so much memory to handle things like MIDI and sysex. I wonder if they are using stupid amounts of RAM for high-res graphics? I don’t know enough about programming to think about why this editor would be so memory extensive.

        As it was, I couldn’t really test with my iPad 4. There are a couple 1-star reviews up, so far. Not a very graceful roll-out. Perhaps they’ll get it dialed in for their x.1 release.

        1. The “$” is active now for almost all instrument modules. We were in the rather unusual situation of Apple saying that the software had to be released before they would review and allow in-app purchases. They also needed a production environment so Midi Quest was released and everyone had access to the instrument modules so Apple could do their review process. This is not how we would have chosen to do things but it wasn’t our call.

          Memory requirements vary widely based on the instrument but Kurzweil’s K-series is certainly one of the largest because of the number of banks the unit supports along with the number of data types that must be managed. MQ isn’t using high res graphics but the program, in the case of the K2500R is managing thousands of parameters. Every parameter needs space for a name, location, read/write to memory, display management, editing messages, and so on. Unless you would like more detail I’ll leave it at that however, each editor does have a lot of information to store and manage in order to display and work properly. This is also an editor so we do things like maintain backups during the editing process so you can back out of changes. All of this takes memory.

          It may be ambitious but we are trying to take a desktop application and put it on an iPad with as much of the functionality intact as possible. Yes, there will be some growing pains but we will address these as quickly as possible.

    1. I think they may be trying a quick port of their existing app to pull in more revenue. With the devices as IAPs, they can more directly track which devices are most used and direct their updates to where they are most needed. It’ll be interesting to see how much they charge for their IAPs. I wasn’t able to see this when I tried the app.

      The trouble appears to be that they didn’t do an adequate apha and beta test before rolling this out. I think their timing was off.

      Also, it seems they didn’t adjust the program to allow older devices to use it.

      1. I realize I am biased but this was by no means a “quick port”. Frankly, we are not expecting that Midi Quest will be used on an original iPad, iPad 2, or 3 except for maybe instruments out of the ’80’s. These iPads simply don’t have sufficient memory.

  5. Doesn’t work on iPad Pro 9.7. Can’t get it load menus or options to select a synth like the desktop version. Would love to use with an Ensoniq TS10.

    1. We did a large part of our development and testing on iPad Pros so I am surprised to hear this. Hopefully you have have enabled reporting so we will see information on whatever problems you are having. I’m not going to attempt to do support here but if you want to contact Sound Quest’s support email, we definitely was to resolve as many problems as quickly as we can. (Most issues we are seeing are memory related from using older iPads. This shouldn’t be an issue with an iPad Pro)

    1. Depends on the instrument. Browsing the site I saw prices from 19.99 to 129.99!

      I can’t find an ‘All’ IAP yet – as stub said, the dollar sign doesn’t seem to work.

  7. “individual devices is added via In-App purchases” Yeah great if you can find out how?! haha.. I see a dollar button on the main page but its blanked out. No manual…. Hangs periodically. It’s easier to send a rocket to mars with your iPad haha…

    2. The purchase button should work properly in the 1.0.2 release which is currently available.

      There are two manuals, a pdf and a web base version. Both are accessible by tapping the “?” button then selecting “PDF manual” or “Online manual” from the popup menu. You’ll need a pdf reader installed if you want to choose the PDF option.

    1. The computer version does support VZ-1, so I imagine that this one would as well. I look forward to seeing how this goes, I tried the Mac version but was unimpressed with some aspects of it for the price they are charging. But if I can get this tom work well for my VZ-8 and K2000 it might be worthwhile.

  9. It seems like it’s not ready for prime time. Loading the device list takes several minutes on my iPad Air 1.

    I ran into devices with the 2GB limit as well. Was able to get others to load after a long while though. The device list isn’t cached so it’s several minutes each time and then several minutes to load it once you’ve selected it.

    Didn’t see anything under patches for the devices I loaded. Not meaning local patches but the description says there are patches available in the app via the ‘Patch Zone’ (that they’ve collected over the years I presume).

    Overview page is here: http://www.squest.com/Products/MidiQuest_iPad/Details.html (bad link on app store and instruments page below).

    Here are the instruments available within iOS: http://www.squest.com/Products/MidiQuest_iPad/Instruments.html If you click through to a particular instrument it will tell you the price and sometimes the RAM requirements. K2000 is $119. 🙁 Ok. But the Alesis D4 is $69?? Seems most are around $69. Hopefully there’s a desktop-competitive ‘All Instruments’ purchase that might make this worth it, particularly considering the minimum requirements (unlimited undo requires 2GB ram, no matter the instrument’s requirements).

    The instrument list is as impressive as ever with MQ but it’s missing a lot of more modern doodads folks around here seem to love. No volcas, no electribe 2s, no mini/monologue, no Prophet 6, no OB6, no Blofeld, no Circuit…

    Here’s the iOS manual: http://soundquest.org/Downloads/MidiQuesti12/IOSManual.pdf

  10. Seriously? $69 per instrument or more?! Talk about price gouging, especially for an app that looks it’s a port of an visually outdated desktop app, and doesn’t work correctly at launch. At least, the desktop app seems like it’s worth the price given the device compatibility. This is not.

  11. The stupid thing is that I might even pay $69… well, maybe $49 for each to have editors for the few pieces of gear I use. But that’s only if everything about the app, website, reviews, etc. was really tight.

    Nothing to inspire confidence, yet. Perhaps they’ll get things ironed out.

    I would guess that it would be better to have 200 people paying $30 a pop, then have 4 people paying $69 a pop. But I’m not a math person. (Well, maybe a little.)

  12. and people thought SoundTower’s pricing was steep…. this is unreal. I expect this product to go little to nowhere. Especially when they are pricing certain IAPs higher than other 3rd party ipad editors. some exceptionally poor choices made on this one….

  13. No support for my Yamaha TX816 yet. 🙁
    Well – ipads are too flimsy for that I recon. The old SoundDiver for Windows was ace for editing that synth, as it allowes you to watch and edit all 8 modules at the same time. Thus making it more doable and intuitive to build one sound utilizing all modules. As if fm-editing ever was intuitive…lols.

      1. Patch Base is excellent and works perfect on Ipad, Unlike MidiQuesti which windows can’t size down enough to have access to all parameters. I still wonder if it is possible to load patches on PatchPase.

  14. It’s on v 1.01 and they still can’t get the purchase button functioning, contrary to patch notes.. Not a great start.

    1. There was some “out of sync” between getting the editors authorized for the store and the release of the software. Apple wants to review the “production environment” but that also means that everyone has access while they do their testing. The 1.0.2 release which is available now should have purchase enabled for most of the instrument modules.

  15. Yeah, Hampton. The recent update not only didn’t do what it claimed, it broke the get SysEx feature that was at least partially working in the earlier version.

  17. Holy smokes!

    I checked the IAP prices for just three of my synths in v1.0.2

    1) DSI Evolver $99.00
    2) Casio CZ-1 $69.99
    3) E-mu Morpheus $109.99

    I’m not even going to bother checking the rest of the prices. Instant delete!

    1. Our apologies, the “yawning gap” is where iOS is supposed to supply MidiQuest with the cost of the instrument module in your currency. Apparently, it isn’t. (note: the cost of the module in US$ is listed on the instrument specific page on our web site). If you are frustrated, just imagine how we feel because all testing with Apple’s “Sandbox” purchase environment proceeds without a problem. The options that Apple provides for testing the purchase routines are limited and all based in US$. My guess is that you are not in the US.

      Can I ask what country you are purchasing from and what version of MidiQuesti you are running. If it is not 1.0.4, please update Midi Quest. We did make changes in this release which may address your problems and if they don’t, we definitely want to know about it.

    2. The 1.0.5 release of Midi Quest (currently in review with Apple) will include in the message how much memory the editor requires along with how much it believes is available. This should help us to understand what the issue is. Your iPad Air 2 should have 2GB of memory (64GB storage is inconsequential) and we have certainly run the editor successfully on iPads with this configuration here.

  20. Not working at all on an iPad Air !?!? As mentioned before, insufficient RAM error message. According to the technical requirements and the software is v1.0.3, I would expect it to run at least 1 of the simpler and smaller devices! I could not get any device to work.
    Frankly speaking, I have my doubts that it will be usable at all. Even it it would run on the regular iPad screen, I can’t imagine how they solved the different device interfaces… the product description talks of “3-steps zoom”!? Really? I have to zoom and scroll through a device’s UI image representation? How should this work out at all?
    BTW, also the desktop application has a very, very strange and fixed UI display. It is simply too tiny, and to my knowledge not scalable. Please, try to create a flexible UI for desktop and iOS… and you should get many new customers! Including me. I am really curious to see and test this app.

    1. It is a “3 times” zoom (not “3 step”) so you can expand or shrink the size of the editor if you wish. This can certainly be a preferred option for an editor which doesn’t require the full screen. In the case of an iPad Pro, which has a larger screen size, you have the option of either looking at more information or having a larger image size. So yes, as you request in your message, the iPad editors are scalable.

      The 1.0.5 release of Midi Quest, which is currently at the “review” stage with Apple, will have a much smaller memory footprint. With this release, you will find that most of the instrument editors are available. Keep in mind that the instrument modules will need to be updated as they contain the memory requirements and they will all be updated with the new, lower requirements.

      1. Thanks for your reply and explanations. With “scalable” I wanted to describe a real dynamic interface, or at least something that “fits” on a mobile screen. If it needs different “zoom states” I can’t imagine that it feels and works like an iOS app, sorry. I am just thinking load and did not have the opportunity to see it in action. Hopefully the v1.0.5 works on my device.
        BTW, I also tried the DESKTOP version 11, and I am really surprised about its UI. I tried my synth module and just see a very tiny graphical display. It’s unusable, sorry. Is there any chance or feature for a “zoom”? Or any future development for a new “responsive” and “dynamic” UI?

      2. Finally v1.0.5 seem to run on my iPad Air. At least I tried 2-3 ensoniq keyboard plugins. I am mostly interested to find a software solution for my ensoniq TS-10. So I tried the program editor interface… I assume the editor demo/free mode should work like the full version, right? Unfortunately it does not. The UI elements are not usable at all 🙁 Only the envelope “points” are clickable and movable. Everything else does not respond or it shows up randomly: For instance the “select type” boxes. Sorry, but I loose my confidence in this piece of software.

  21. So… with SQ’s explanation accepted….two revisions later ..we at last have lift off – an active purchasing button for KORG Ds8 and MicroKorg….uh…oh no we don’t….on hitting the purchase symbol one is greeted with. ‘Would you like to purchase (insert open synth name) for

    (yawning gap)

    Bearing in mind, I was hoping to get this to use for my two lower value synths (that need it the most) the price is key. I would like to know how much an item costs before I buy, and am not about to click any further to see happens. I’m wondering whether to waste any more valuable studio time being a paying beta tester.. Sound Quest, you sure ain’t making your app launch an easy journey, for yourselves or anyone else.

    1. Don’t know why but this reply ended up being attached to the wrong comment. Here it is again….

      Our apologies, the “yawning gap” is where iOS is supposed to supply MidiQuest with the cost of the instrument module in your currency. Apparently, it isn’t. (note: the cost of the module in US$ is listed on the instrument specific page on our web site). If you are frustrated, just imagine how we feel because all testing with Apple’s “Sandbox” purchase environment proceeds without a problem. The options that Apple provides for testing the purchase routines are limited and all based in US$. My guess is that you are not in the US.

      Can I ask what country you are purchasing from and what version of MidiQuesti you are running. If it is not 1.0.4, please update Midi Quest. We did make changes in this release which may address your problems and if they don’t, we definitely want to know about it.

  22. Big apologies for making assumptions, quite difficult to grasp your tech issues from here, and I should have read your earlier reply more thoroughly 🙂 I updated today and the price remains blank, I’m based in the UK.

    1. The tech issues are our problem obviously and we will get them resolved. MQi 1.0.7 was released over the weekend. If you are willing, could you install the new version let me know if this resolves the display problem. Thanks.

  24. Just found this, wasn’t even aware this was out. Korg Kronos gives insufficient mem even tough I am trying this on a 4GB iPad Pro (12.9”), weird. Was also looking at this software to use with some older synths from Kawai (like the K1 RII) I recently added, but the license is more than the price I paid for the actual synth itself! I understand manhours etc, but especially in the iOS space the pricing is so far off that it doesn’t make any sense. Not if you can get something like a Moog Model D for $4.99 (I completely realize that these pieces of software are not comparable). I am going to pass until the pricelevels are more inline with the equipment it is managing.

  25. Midi Quest is the worst useless app with full of bugs and I want full refund from the developer.
    This is very unprofessional and they don’t even care to fix them.

    Please don’t buy anything from Midi Quest.

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